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Consensus Science and the Threat to Medical Freedom

August 5, 2015 By Vaccine Choice Canada

Editorial – The Vaccine Choice Journal, Spring, 2015

By Edda West

An aggressive push to remove the right to voluntary, informed consent to vaccination is rolling out across the world. Driven by Big Pharma, industry captured health regulators, politicians and the corporate controlled media, the basic human right to bodily integrity is under attack as never before.

The recent Disneyland measles outbreak triggered another round of vaccine hysteria followed by the introduction of over 100 bills in various U.S. states threatening vaccine exemptions. Health freedom activists have been fighting these bills across the country with mounting concern. California’s draconian SB 277, if passed, would eliminate personal and religious exemptions, barring children from school if they’ve not received the full schedule of state mandated vaccines. Only narrow medical exemptions would be allowed for which most won’t qualify, even if they’ve already been injured by vaccines.

Simultaneously, U.S. federal, Vaccinate All Children Act of 2015 has been introduced along with an overarching federal mandatory vaccine agenda now being ramped up. Dr. Sherri Tenpenny provides sobering insight into the Healthy People 2020 master plan which intends to implement ‘cradle to grave’ vaccination policies for all Americans. In lock step with the plan, the pharma controlled American Medical Association (AMA) has adopted a policy to end personal or religious vaccine exemptions, saying unvaccinated children pose health risks to others.

Medical freedom is also under attack in Australia which recently announced new measures imposing financial penalties on families who choose a partial or ‘no vaccines’ health philosophy. There will be no religious or philosophical exemptions. Even refusing one vaccine may prevent a child from attending government subsidized childcare. Families whose children aren’t fully vaccinated will be denied benefits of up to $15,000.

In Europe, the human right to voluntary, informed consent is also threatened. 40% of EU countries now impose mandatory vaccination under threat of fines or imprisonment. The European Forum for Vaccine Vigilance (EFVV) is deeply concerned about human rights violations and increasing numbers of vaccine injuries they’re seeing. They are petitioning the European Union (EU) to protect and promote citizens’ right to make informed medical choices. The EFVV’s powerful and compelling petition entitled ‘Respect, promote and protect freedom of informed vaccination consent throughout Europe’, intends to collect 1 million signatures and bring this debate to the European parliament in Brussels. The goal is to abolish mandatory vaccination in all European countries – to call on all Europeans to demand a united vaccination policy based on freedom of choice and informed consent as provided by the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights.

In Canada, the ‘mandatory vaccination’ rhetoric is intensifying. In synch with the winds blowing south of the border, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) has announced a resolution (to be voted on by its assembly in August) calling for mandatory vaccination of children which they say is in response to growing numbers of parents refusing to vaccinate their children. The CMA is urging provinces to require proof that children registered for day care or school be up to date on all government recommended shots unless there’s a medical reason not to. The resolution will be voted on at its general council meeting in August, but is silent on the issue of philosophical and religious exemptions.

The CMA resolution breaches not only its own code of ethics which upholds the right of the patient to “make informed decisions about their medical care” and to “accept or reject any medical care recommended”, it also contravenes Canadian Medical Law which enshrines the right to voluntary, informed consent as a foundational medical ethic. The resolution attempts to invalidate the personal freedoms of conscience and religion guaranteed by the Canadian Charter and undermines the right of families to protect their children from unwanted medical interference.

In a similar move, Ontario’s Legislative Assembly recently voted unanimously to pass a motion to, “strongly encourage all parents and guardians to ensure that children who are medically able are vaccinated.” The mind numbing pro-vaccine ‘love fest’ that followed, is a measure of how thoroughly ‘consensus science’ has propagandized our politicians rendering them incapable of a rationale debate on this issue.

Politicians and doctors remain oblivious to the growing catastrophe afflicting children’s health today and the environmental factors, chemicals and drugs, including vaccines that are driving it. It’s estimated that one in 10 Canadian children have severe allergies, asthma, diabetes, epilepsy and other life-threatening conditions. In the U.S., studies have found that an estimated 43% of children (32 million) have at least 1 of 20 chronic health conditions assessed, increasing to 54.1% when overweight, obesity, or being at risk for developmental delays are included, and that the number of school-age children diagnosed with autism, ADHD, and other developmental disabilities was about 15 percent of children or nearly 10 million.

If they were truly concerned about public health, legislators and the CMA would examine the growing body of independent science which identifies vaccine induced health injuries contributing to the declining state of children’s health today. They would open their minds to the cautionary voices of independent scientists like Canadian neuroscientist Lucija Tomljenovic PhD, who provides clear evidence that vaccine safety is not “rock solid”, and that the “pushing of poorly tested drugs on children is neither acceptable nor ethical”. We have included Lucija’s essay as a supplement to this issue of the Vaccine Choice Journal which you may wish to you share with doctors and legislators in your area. The essay can also be downloaded from the VCC website at this link.

What is ‘consensus science’?

Freedom of thought in science and medicine has been co-opted by the industries which benefit both financially and politically from the manipulated ‘science’ they create, then impose on the public as ‘consensus science’. Consensus science is the tool used by powerful interest groups to shut down ideas, research and any scientists who challenge established beliefs. It is a form of bullying intended to marginalize and discredit any opposition to an entrenched belief system. Captured by ‘consensus science’ and beholden to it are government health regulators, politicians, doctors, the compliant media and by extension, the public at large who unquestioningly accept the “sacred scientific dogma” that vaccines are safe and effective.

Consensus science is a creature of scientific fundamentalism, which serves first and foremost to restrict freedom of thought, explained so well by Larry Malerba in his excellent article, The Rise of Scientific Fundamentalism. He writes, “Contrary to the beliefs of some, science is not an impenetrable body of settled fact that must be defended at all costs in the name of truth. It is not a means by which to determine truth or to achieve absolute certainty. Neither is science a worldview. When science becomes a worldview—a philosophy of life, a metaphysical framework that explains existence—it is no longer science; it is scientism.” With scientism comes a religious zealotry which imposes its version of ‘sacred scientific dogma’ upon the general public while at the same time prohibiting new and ‘heretical’ ideas from being heard.

At the pinnacle of ‘sacred scientific dogma’ is vaccination which cannot be questioned or challenged without engaging the full force and furry of ‘consensus science’ which controls the narrative. The strict media blackout imposed by the medical industry prohibits the airing of any aspect of vaccine concerns even if presented by credentialed scientists in peer reviewed studies. In the case of vaccination, the “consensus science” gang acts as thought police asserting the indisputable rightness of its position, leaving no room for dissent or differences in opinion.

The PR spin used by ‘consensus science’, to suppress vaccine concerns and prevent the findings of independent scientific research from reaching the public are regurgitated ad nauseam by the media to dismiss any information that challenges the myth of vaccine safety and efficacy:

“Vaccines are safe and effective.”

“The risks of injury are minimal.”

“Vaccine damage is one in a million.”

“The benefits far outweigh the risks.”

“We have a social responsibility to vaccinate.”

“Only a tiny minority of children will experience an adverse reaction.”

“The science on vaccines is clear.”

“Vaccines do not cause autism.”

“Mercury does not cause autism.”

In his 2003 lecture on science, politics and consensus Michael Crichton, MD said, “…consensus is invoked only in situations where the science is not solid enough.” He went on to explain it well, saying,

“I regard consensus science as an extremely pernicious development that ought to be stopped cold in its tracks. Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled. Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you’re being had.

Let’s be clear: the work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus. Consensus is the business of politics. Science, on the contrary, requires only one investigator who happens to be right, which means that he or she has results that are verifiable by reference to the real world. In science consensus is irrelevant. What is relevant is reproducible results. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus.

There is no such thing as consensus science. If it’s consensus, it isn’t science. If it’s science, it isn’t consensus. Period.”

In the case of vaccination, the medical industry uses its collection of industry and government sponsored studies designed to suppress any association between vaccination and the epidemic of neurological and immunological injuries that afflict increasing numbers of children and young adults in our society today.

Much of science and medicine is now dominated by for profit industries which rely on industry sponsored studies to forward their agenda. Dr. Richard Horton, editor in chief of the Lancet, recently stated that a lot of published research is unreliable at best, if not completely false. He said, “Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness.” Horton went on to observe that, little is done to correct bad practices and that much of what goes on could even be considered borderline misconduct. His view supports what Dr. Marcia Angell said when leaving her longtime position as editor in chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, “It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines.”

Voices against vaccine mandates

The growing chorus of voices in science and medicine who oppose state imposed ‘one size fits all’ vaccine policies, are speaking out against a medical system based on threats, fear and tyranny. “Medical ethics are clear No one should be forced to undergo a medical treatment without informed consent and without their agreement to the treatment. Vaccination is a medical treatment with risks including death. It is totally antithetical to all ethics in medicine to mandate that risk to others”, writes Lee Lieb MD in her essay, How vaccine hysteria could spark a totalitarian nightmare.

Barbara Loe Fisher, veteran vaccine safety activist warned a few years ago, “These are desperate times for those denying vaccine risks. We know it because we are witnessing so many acts of desperation being committed by doctors determined to shut down the public conversation about vaccination and health. Vaccine risk deniers are working overtime to restrict public access to information, cover up vaccine injuries and deaths and violate the human right to informed consent to medical risk-taking.”

On his recent speaking tour in defense of parents’ right to vaccine exemptions, environmental lawyer, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. focused on malfeasance at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), calling it a “cesspool of corruption”. He said big pharma spends more money on lobbying than any other industry, and that legislators are on the industry payroll. He writes, “Vaccine industry money has neutralized virtually all of the checks and balances that once stood between a rapacious pharmaceutical industry and our children. With the research, regulatory, and policymaking agencies captured, the courts closed to the public, the lawyers disarmed, the politicians on retainer and the media subverted, there is no one left to stand between a greedy industry and vulnerable children, except parents. Now Big Pharma’s game plan is to remove parental informed consent rights from that equation and force vaccine hesitant parents to inject their children with potentially risky vaccines that the Supreme Court has called “unavoidably unsafe.” Speaking of the media blackout in place across North America, Kennedy said, reporters won’t cover this issue because it’s “potentially a career ending hazard……There is simply no national forum for this debate. We have been forced from the public square.”

Fast tracking to medical tyranny

As drugs go, vaccines are the fastest growing sector of the pharmaceutical industry with 271 vaccines in the developmental pipeline for infectious diseases, cancer, neurological disorders, allergies and other diseases. The vaccine industry is enjoying a spectacular annual growth rate of 10-15%. The global vaccine market tripled in value from $5 billion in 2000 to almost $24 billion in 2013 and is projected to rise to $100 billion by 2025.

Quadrupling its profits over the next ten years can mean only one thing – that the pharmaceutical industry has lined up every means at its disposal (as outlined by Robert Kennedy) to impose draconian vaccine policies on the entire population. Along with its push to remove vaccine exemptions for children, it will ramp up efforts to force other sectors to implement compulsory vaccination as a requirement of employment. Everyone is targeted!

Industry dominated control of science and medicine is the operative norm today. Its primary concern is to maximize profits for its corporate shareholders, not the wellbeing of our children or the public at large. Our only hope of escaping this tyranny is to stop this juggernaut before it gains absolute control. The oppressors are poised to dismantle our most basic human rights to satisfy their rapacious appetite for money and power.

The impact of vaccines on brain development

In the first two years of life, healthy infants are injected with an increasing burden of vaccines during the most critical phases of brain and immune system development. Vaccines, as a special category of drugs are comprised of complex biochemical substances, including neurotoxic chemicals, carcinogens, foreign proteins, human and animal DNA, which once injected, cannot be deactivated or removed from the body should something go wrong. No large comparatives studies have ever been done to determine long term health outcomes in fully vaccinated and never vaccinated groups to prove safety. In a review of documents obtained from the U.K. department of health documents, Lucija Tomljenovic, PhD found that vaccine manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, and health authorities have long known about multiple dangers associated with vaccines but chose to withhold them from the public.

As explained by Tomljenovic in a discussion about the effects of vaccine adjuvants on the brain, “There is a huge body of research that shows, if you overstimulate the immune system at the periphery, especially in the critical stage of early development, you are going to influence the brain in a negative way, and by doing so, you can create irreversible damage. Again, this is research that is rarely discussed, because it really shows that there is reason to question the safety of the burden of vaccines given to infants. The backbone of this research was done 30 years ago. We already knew that there is a significant connection between the immune system and the central nervous system. They communicate. You cannot influence the immune system at the periphery without changing something in the brain……[and]… if you increase an immune response artificially at the periphery, you are going to mess up the brain.”

The looming threat to our health freedoms will continue to erode public trust in the vaccine paradigm and resistance will grow. Today, 1 in 6 children are learning disabled and researchers predict that by 2025, every second child born will be at risk of autism – a manmade health disaster unprecedented in history. As awareness grows that excessive vaccination in the critical first few years of life is at the root of the epidemic of neuroimmune disorders afflicting children today, massive resistance will follow. The harder the push for vaccine mandates, the more motivated families will be to protect their children from medical assault. The emerging new science exposes the danger and futility of the vaccine paradigm. Once parents grasp the basics of nature’s blueprint for optimal brain and immune system development and how vaccines sabotage normal development, few will remain captive to the myths of ‘vaccine safety and efficacy’. Increasingly parents will seek trustworthy sources of information on which to base their families’ health care choices.

Please note: The Vaccine Choice Canada May V-Bulletin contains an extensive list of references that will assist you, your family, your friends and your health care professional in understanding many of the concerns expressed in this editorial. To access back issues or to sign up for the V-Bulletin click here.